Water firm admits confined spaces regs breach

摘要

Thames Water Utilities Ltd (TWUL) has been fined £300,000 after pleading guilty to breaching the Confined Spaces Regulations 1997. Westminster magistrates court heard that, on 29 August 2017, three workers were carrying out preparatory work for the Thames Tideway Tunnel at East Greenwich. They were working in a sewer which is controlled by TWUL, when a 150-year-old cast iron sewer gate failed, resulting in the workers being engulfed by sewerage and carried along the sewer. HSE said, due to an unrelated planned power outage, sewage pumps vital to the control of sewage levels for the work being undertaken at East Greenwich were not available for use which resulted in the sewer gate failing.